Blue Story

Blue Story is a 2019 British musical crime drama film written, directed, and narrated by Rapman (Andrew Onwubolu) through the medium of rap and starring Stephen Odubola and Micheal Ward, with Eric Kofi-Abrefa, Khali Best, Karla-Simone Spence, Richie Campbell, Jo Martin and Junior Afolabi Salokun in supporting roles.

The story follows best friends Marco (Ward) and Timmy (Odubola) who, from different areas of London (Peckham and Deptford), find themselves becoming enemies in a violent and insidious postcode war.

The film focuses on themes such as gang violence, friendship, betrayal, love, youth, and black masculinity.

In London, a boy named Timmy starts secondary school in Peckham, Southwark, despite living in Deptford, Lewisham.

At the party, Timmy has a slow dance with Leah but is interrupted after Marco gets into a fight with another boy causing Karina's father to force everyone out.

That night, Timmy is attacked by a gang and Leah is killed by being pushed to the ground and hitting her head too hard when she tries to save him.

Meanwhile, a Ghetto Boy nicknamed Tiny Madder who is a close friend of Timmy is encouraged by him to make music for Link Up TV.

Later, as the film concludes, Madder becomes a youth worker, and Switcher (his real name revealed to be Jordan) commits suicide from a drug overdose after both Marco and Tyrone are arrested.

In a credit scene, Tiny Madder's music has become famous around the UK and he vows to get revenge for Timmy by killing all the Peckham Boys.

Additionally, Sean Sagar and Joshua Blisset play Skitzer and Daps, respectively, alongside Tuwaine Barrett as Striker, Duayne Boachie as Sneaks, Curtis Kantsa as Tiny Madder, Kemi Lofinmakin as Timmy's Mum, Giorgia Angelini Marquez as Karina and Jordan Peters as Cheddar.

Rapman, then known for his work on musical and short film projects, released the original Blue Story trilogy on YouTube in 2014, which was inspired by his real-life experiences as a working-class boy from Lewisham attending a school in Peckham, whilst both areas are in a postcode war.

Following the feedback from the comments calling for it to be a movie, Rapman decided to write a feature length version, which took six months to complete.

Once the script was finally finished, Rapman moved onto his next YouTube project, Shiro’s Story, a musical short film trilogy about a young black man from London who enters a violent life of crime after he learns that his girlfriend's daughter is actually his best friend's.

[13] Mike McCahill of The Guardian gave the film three stars out of five and called it "An assured and capably performed morality play.

[15] At the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, Michael Ward won the BAFTA Rising Star for his performance.

On 23 November 2019, The Independent reported that during a screening of Blue Story at Star City in Birmingham, England, police were attacked by a group armed with machetes.

[21] A spokesperson for West Midlands Police stated that "Dozens of officers were sent to the complex after a 999 call just after 5.30 pm reporting a group of youths with machetes.

Two machetes were seized during the trouble, which saw pockets of fighting and seven police officers left with minor injuries as they dealt with the crowds in and around the cinema.

[24][25] A statement from Vue said that during the first 24 hours of the film more than 25 significant incidents were reported and escalated to senior management in 16 separate cinemas.

From left: Stephen Odubola and Micheal Ward discuss Blue Story in 2019
Micheal Ward 's performance received critical praise and earned him the BAFTA Rising Star Award .